Anti‐Müllerian hormone is expressed and secreted by bovine oviductal and endometrial epithelial cells

Abstract

Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) is a member of the transforming growth factor (TGF)-β family. Preantral and small antral follicles secrete AMH in female animals (Bhide & Homburg, 2016). AMH expression is well-characterized in ovaries and plays important roles in regulating follicular development (Hernandez-Medrano, Campbell, & Webb, 2012) and inhibiting follicular atresia (Sefrioui, Madkour, Aboulmaouahib, Kaarouc, & Louanjli, 2019). Concentrations of circulating AMH can help to predict the number of high-quality embryos produced by various mammals, including cows and humans (Arouche et al., 2015; Sefrioui et al., 2019). High-quality embryos result from synchronous regulation by the sperm, ovum, oviduct, and endometrium. Further, plasma AMH concentrations are positively correlated with pregnancy rates in various animals, including humans and cows (Josso, 2019; Ribeiro et al., 2014). Accordingly, women with low blood AMH concentrations have an increased risk of miscarriage (Lyttle, Jukic, & Steiner, 2018; Tarasconi et al., 2017). Moreover, mares with delayed uterine clearance have significantly lower blood AMH concentrations than those without delayed uterine clearance (Gharagozlou, Akbarinejad, Youssefi, & Rezagholizadeh, 2013). Therefore, AMH might play vital roles in the oviduct and endometrium. AMH can act at the extragonadal level by activating its primary receptor, AMH receptor type 2 (AMHR2), in the gonadotrophs of anterior pituitaries of rats and bovines (Garrel et al., 2016; Kereilwe & Kadokawa, 2019). We have previously shown that bovine gonadotrophs express AMH, which likely acts in paracrine and autocrine manner (Kereilwe, Pandey, Borromeo, & Kadokawa, 2018). Endometrial tissues of healthy women also express AMHR2 (Kim et al., 2019). We recently discovered that AMHR2 is expressed in parts of the bovine oviducts and uterus that are important for fertility and embryogenesis, namely the epithelium of the tunica mucosa of the ampulla and isthmus, the epithelium

Anti‐Müllerian hormone stimulates expression of the collagen‐specific chaperone 47‐kDa heat shock protein in bovine uterine epithelial cells

“…Immunohistochemistry performed in the present study showed co-localization of AMHR2, HSP47, and collagen IV in the epithelial layers, thus showing epithelial cells express these proteins. These observations were supported by our recent studies of AMHR2 (Ferdousy et al, 2020a), AMH (Ferdousy et al, 2020b), and HSP47 expression in the epithelial layers of the uteri of young heifers and aged cows. In the present study, we found that AMH induces HSP47 expression in uterine epithelial cells.…”

“…AMH is secreted from ovaries (Bhide & Homburg, 2016). Also endometrial epithelial cells are likely to secrete AMH into the uterine fluid at the picomolar level (Ferdousy et al, 2020b). Therefore, AMH can be transported by blood or uterine fluids to epithelial cells.…”

“…We followed a reported method (Ferdousy et al, 2020a(Ferdousy et al, , 2020b to obtain the caruncular (CAR) and intercaruncular (ICAR) endometrium from healthy postpubertal, growing, young nulliparous heifers (N = 5, 28.0 AE 0.3 months old) and from aged multiparous Japanese Black beef cows (N = 5, 143.1 AE 15.6 months old; 9 AE 1 parities; sacrificed at least 3 months after the last parturition) at a local abattoir. Heifers and cows were on days 8-15 of the estrous cycle (day 0 = day of estrus), as determined by macroscopic examination of the ovaries and uterus (Miyamoto et al, 2000).…”

“…After storage in 4% paraformaldehyde in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 4 C for 16 h, tissue blocks were placed in 30% sucrose-PBS until the blocks were infiltrated with sucrose for 2 or 3 days. We used immunohistochemistry to detect ovarian and uterine AMH and AMHR2, as previously described (Ferdousy et al, 2020a(Ferdousy et al, , 2020bKereilwe et al, 2018;Kereilwe & Kadokawa, 2019). Briefly, the blocks were frozen in an embedding medium (Tissue-Tek OCT compound; Sakura Finetechnical Co. Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) and maintained at À80 C.…”

The ovarian follicle of ruminants: the path from conceptus to adult

“…Conversely, within individuals, circulating AMH concentrations are stable over months or even years (Monniaux et al 2011;Evans et al 2012) because the population of growing small antral follicles, where the greatest amounts of AMH are produced, is itself quite stable (Scaramuzzi et al 2011). A degree of uncertainty has been introduced by the recent discovery that, in cattle, AMH is synthesised and secreted by epithelial cells in the oviduct and endometrium (Ferdousy et al 2020), suggesting that we can expect changes in plasma AMH concentrations as animals progress through major stages of reproductive life, such as puberty.…”